.
The costs for instruction (teacher's salaries), fuel and care of the Green School are listed below. The figures for 1895 and subsequent years are for instruction only. Figures were not published following 1926.
1871-72 $241.45
1872-73 $269.25
1873-74 $250.20
1874-75 $286.71
1875-76 $284.75
1876-77 $301.87
1877 $304.50
1878 $263.62
1879 $261.00
1880 $307.88
1881 $302.68
1882 $284.12
1883 $293.69
1884 $314.99
1885 $229.50
1886 $318.95
1887 $306.22
1888 $314.00
1889 $319.60
1890 $320.30
1891 $318.20
1892 $363.70
1893 $371.30
1894 $343.80
1895 $330.50
1896 $304.08
1897 $312.20
1898 $312.00
1899 $296.00
1900 $356.70
1901 $378.80
1902 $334.00
1903 $334.00
1904 $379.60
1905 $379.60
1906 $380.00
1907 $380.00
1908 $380.00
1909 $380.00
1910 $406.00
1911 $448.00
1912 $486.00
1913 $494.00
1914 $494.00
1915 $570.00
1916 $585.00
1917 $620.00
1918 $650.00
1919 $670.00
1920 not listed
1921 $1,200
1922 $1,200
1923 $1,200
1924 $1,200
1925 not listed
1926 $1,200
During the early years of the Green School’s operation, Middleborough stood very low on the list of Massachusetts towns relative to the amount of money appropriated for each pupil. In 1875, Middleborough, in fact, was 305th on the list, with smaller surrounding communities including Lakeville, Halifax, Carver, Rochester and Plympton spending greater amounts. “There is no excuse for these facts. Our town cannot plead poverty, nor excessive taxation”. Largely, the circumstance was attributable to teacher salaries which in Middleborough were “considerably less” than the state average.
The dramatic increase in the cost of instruction following 1909 was due to concerted efforts at raising local teacher salaries to meet the state average in order to retain and attract qualified candidates.
Showing posts with label Administrative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Administrative. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Attendance
.
In the early years of the Green School, attendance was not always the highest. In 1875-76, 21 pupils between 5 and 15 were enrolled at the Green and the average attendance during the course of the year was 61% (the town average was 69.67%). Partially, the reason for such low figures was that children were needed to assist with chores at home, particularly during the spring and fall terms when attendance fell to its lowest.
In an effort to improve attendance in the public schools, in 1875 the town adopted a series of “By-Laws Concerning Truant Children and Absentees from School.” Among them was a requirement that all children aged 7 through 15 “regularly attend some day school approved by the School Committee, unless engaged in some lawful business or employment” in which instance alternate schooling was expected. To enforce these regulations, a truant officer was appointed, reporting annually to the School Committee.
The suburban schools were particularly challenged as children were often needed to assist with agricultural duties. In 1904, a monthly attendance contest was established for these schools whereby the school with the highest percentage of attendance was awarded a silk banner to display until won by another school. Though successful, the program was abandoned in 1905 for more substantive rewards. The suburban schools were divided into two divisions – schools such as the Green with more than 25 pupils enrolled, and schools with less than 25. Each month, schools with the highest percentage attendance received a prize. During the first month, December, 1905, the Green School won the large division, receiving for the school a “geographical outfit.”
Increasingly, as Middleborough industrialized and became proportionately less agricultural, school attendance rates rose during the late nineteenth century, averaging about 90% following 1900. Undoubtedly, part of this increase was also attributable to the value which was placed in having an education by a growing number of parents.
Also during this period, the required entrance age was raised essentially to six, the School Committee in 1918 requiring all pupils entering grade one to attain the age of six during the calendar year.
NEXT PAGE: Terms & Sessions
In the early years of the Green School, attendance was not always the highest. In 1875-76, 21 pupils between 5 and 15 were enrolled at the Green and the average attendance during the course of the year was 61% (the town average was 69.67%). Partially, the reason for such low figures was that children were needed to assist with chores at home, particularly during the spring and fall terms when attendance fell to its lowest.
In an effort to improve attendance in the public schools, in 1875 the town adopted a series of “By-Laws Concerning Truant Children and Absentees from School.” Among them was a requirement that all children aged 7 through 15 “regularly attend some day school approved by the School Committee, unless engaged in some lawful business or employment” in which instance alternate schooling was expected. To enforce these regulations, a truant officer was appointed, reporting annually to the School Committee.
The suburban schools were particularly challenged as children were often needed to assist with agricultural duties. In 1904, a monthly attendance contest was established for these schools whereby the school with the highest percentage of attendance was awarded a silk banner to display until won by another school. Though successful, the program was abandoned in 1905 for more substantive rewards. The suburban schools were divided into two divisions – schools such as the Green with more than 25 pupils enrolled, and schools with less than 25. Each month, schools with the highest percentage attendance received a prize. During the first month, December, 1905, the Green School won the large division, receiving for the school a “geographical outfit.”
Increasingly, as Middleborough industrialized and became proportionately less agricultural, school attendance rates rose during the late nineteenth century, averaging about 90% following 1900. Undoubtedly, part of this increase was also attributable to the value which was placed in having an education by a growing number of parents.
Also during this period, the required entrance age was raised essentially to six, the School Committee in 1918 requiring all pupils entering grade one to attain the age of six during the calendar year.
NEXT PAGE: Terms & Sessions
Terms & Sessions
.
Massachusetts state law required that students attend thirty weeks of school during the year (provided “the schools are kept open that length of time”). While Middleborough complied with this law, the number of weeks it offered varied from year to year, largely based upon finances. For instance, in 1878, the school committee was forced to shorten the school year for want of money. “We did this with regret, for we think that thirty-six weeks of school, per year, is little enough.” Conversely, certain years were lengthened. In 1892, the school year was extended to forty weeks, “thus placing our schools on a par with those of the large towns in the Commonwealth”. In 1895, the school year was reduced to 38 weeks and remained so until 1902 when a reduction in school appropriations forced a temporary reduction to 36 weeks, much against the view of the school committee which recognized that the reduction would lower standards.
Regardless of the number of weeks, the school year commenced each September and was complete by June. Initially, this year was divided into three terms: a fall term lasting from September through December, a winter term from January through late March or early April, and a spring term from April to June. In early 1911, Superintendent Bates recommended the adoption of a four-term academic year commencing in fall 1911 in order to provide more frequent rest periods by reorganizing the winter and spring terms into three separate terms. In fact, the suburban schools adopted a five-term year “so that there will be less tendency for stale work as is often the case in long terms of schools,” with two terms in the fall and three terms in the winter and spring. This experiment, however, was short-lived and by 1917 these schools were back to a four-term year with a single fall term and three winter and spring terms.
The school day, itself, was broken into two sessions – a morning and afternoon session interrupted by lunch. At the Green, these sessions ran from 9 a. m. until noon, and from 1 p .m. through 3 p. m. By 1904, the afternoon session had been extended until 3.30 p. m. from November through March and until 4 p. m. in the remaining months. For the 1910-11 school year, the end time of the afternoon session was set at 3:30 irrespective of the time of year.
Undoubtedly to the dismay of Green School students, Superintendent Bates in 1923 recommended a longer day for the Green and the other large suburban schools “to meet more successfully the requirements of school work”, particularly so that more time could be devoted to the special studies of drawing, music and physical education. Bates also urged that arrangement be made to enable the supervisors of these courses of study to be able to visit the suburban schools more frequently.
NEXT PAGE: Grades & Report Cards
PREVIOUS PAGE: Attendance
Massachusetts state law required that students attend thirty weeks of school during the year (provided “the schools are kept open that length of time”). While Middleborough complied with this law, the number of weeks it offered varied from year to year, largely based upon finances. For instance, in 1878, the school committee was forced to shorten the school year for want of money. “We did this with regret, for we think that thirty-six weeks of school, per year, is little enough.” Conversely, certain years were lengthened. In 1892, the school year was extended to forty weeks, “thus placing our schools on a par with those of the large towns in the Commonwealth”. In 1895, the school year was reduced to 38 weeks and remained so until 1902 when a reduction in school appropriations forced a temporary reduction to 36 weeks, much against the view of the school committee which recognized that the reduction would lower standards.
Regardless of the number of weeks, the school year commenced each September and was complete by June. Initially, this year was divided into three terms: a fall term lasting from September through December, a winter term from January through late March or early April, and a spring term from April to June. In early 1911, Superintendent Bates recommended the adoption of a four-term academic year commencing in fall 1911 in order to provide more frequent rest periods by reorganizing the winter and spring terms into three separate terms. In fact, the suburban schools adopted a five-term year “so that there will be less tendency for stale work as is often the case in long terms of schools,” with two terms in the fall and three terms in the winter and spring. This experiment, however, was short-lived and by 1917 these schools were back to a four-term year with a single fall term and three winter and spring terms.
The school day, itself, was broken into two sessions – a morning and afternoon session interrupted by lunch. At the Green, these sessions ran from 9 a. m. until noon, and from 1 p .m. through 3 p. m. By 1904, the afternoon session had been extended until 3.30 p. m. from November through March and until 4 p. m. in the remaining months. For the 1910-11 school year, the end time of the afternoon session was set at 3:30 irrespective of the time of year.
Undoubtedly to the dismay of Green School students, Superintendent Bates in 1923 recommended a longer day for the Green and the other large suburban schools “to meet more successfully the requirements of school work”, particularly so that more time could be devoted to the special studies of drawing, music and physical education. Bates also urged that arrangement be made to enable the supervisors of these courses of study to be able to visit the suburban schools more frequently.
NEXT PAGE: Grades & Report Cards
PREVIOUS PAGE: Attendance
Grades & Report Cards
.
During the 1880s, teachers completed monthly reports on pupils above the primary grades which were submitted to parents, grading students in their various fields of study numerically on a scale of 100.
In 1893, the numerical system of grading and the rationale for promoting students came under considerable discussion. Superintendent Jacoby found that “teachers were opposed to the daily marking of pupils, and the marking in per cent.” Jacoby concurred, calling the daily marking of pupils a “pernicious practice … which dissipates energy and wastes precious time”. Consequently, on January 26, 1894, the Middleborough School Committee adopted new rules governing both grading and promotions. Commencing in February, 1894, students were to be graded weekly by means of letters representing excellent, good, fair, poor and very poor. In 1885, the grade of “low” falling between “fair” and “poor” was adopted.
In September, 1919, a new system of report cards was adopted. Cards were sent home five times yearly (every two months) for students in the fourth grade and above. No cards were issued for pupils of the first three grades, though if their performance became a concern, parents were to be informed by means of a personal letter from the teacher.
NEXT PAGE: Promotions
PREVIOUS PAGE: Terms & Sessions
During the 1880s, teachers completed monthly reports on pupils above the primary grades which were submitted to parents, grading students in their various fields of study numerically on a scale of 100.
In 1893, the numerical system of grading and the rationale for promoting students came under considerable discussion. Superintendent Jacoby found that “teachers were opposed to the daily marking of pupils, and the marking in per cent.” Jacoby concurred, calling the daily marking of pupils a “pernicious practice … which dissipates energy and wastes precious time”. Consequently, on January 26, 1894, the Middleborough School Committee adopted new rules governing both grading and promotions. Commencing in February, 1894, students were to be graded weekly by means of letters representing excellent, good, fair, poor and very poor. In 1885, the grade of “low” falling between “fair” and “poor” was adopted.
In September, 1919, a new system of report cards was adopted. Cards were sent home five times yearly (every two months) for students in the fourth grade and above. No cards were issued for pupils of the first three grades, though if their performance became a concern, parents were to be informed by means of a personal letter from the teacher.
NEXT PAGE: Promotions
PREVIOUS PAGE: Terms & Sessions
Promotions
.
As the purpose of the primary and elementary schools was considered fitting the pupil for high school, qualifications for attending high school were established. In 1874, Green School students wishing to further their education at Middleborough High School were expected to complete a satisfactory examination in reading, spelling and writing; to complete Common School Written Arithmetic; to complete Greene’s Introduction [to grammar] and to display an “ability to parse and analyze ordinary prose”; and to complete Warren’s Common School Geography and United States History.
Relative to promotions, Green School pupils in the first eight levels would be promoted on the basis of “estimates indicating the teacher’s best judgement of the fidelity and success with which the pupils have done assigned work, and their success in oral and writing tests that have been used as an element of teaching, and the answers to which have not been valued numerically.” Final examinations were dispensed with until the 9th grade as they “do not always determine who is prepared to do successfully the work of the next grade. Frequently they do not test genuine work and power.” Promotions were based upon the yearly average of weekly grades, with students averaging Excellent, Good and Fair being promoted.
While the one-room schoolhouse was generally considered a less effective and more chaotic institution than the graded school, it did have the advantage of encouraging advanced students who unlike their counterparts in graded schools elsewhere were exposed to lessons presented to higher level students. As one local resident described it, “A child who was anxious to learn would ‘listen in’ and often have a wider knowledge than the city students.” Such gifted students were therefore able to acquire a deeper knowledge in their studies and sometimes advance at a more rapid pace. The Middleborough School Committee obliquely recognized this phenomenon when it emphasized that students of special ability could be promoted regardless of age or length of time in a specific level.
NEXT PAGE: Health
PREVIOUS PAGE: Grades & Report Cards
As the purpose of the primary and elementary schools was considered fitting the pupil for high school, qualifications for attending high school were established. In 1874, Green School students wishing to further their education at Middleborough High School were expected to complete a satisfactory examination in reading, spelling and writing; to complete Common School Written Arithmetic; to complete Greene’s Introduction [to grammar] and to display an “ability to parse and analyze ordinary prose”; and to complete Warren’s Common School Geography and United States History.
Relative to promotions, Green School pupils in the first eight levels would be promoted on the basis of “estimates indicating the teacher’s best judgement of the fidelity and success with which the pupils have done assigned work, and their success in oral and writing tests that have been used as an element of teaching, and the answers to which have not been valued numerically.” Final examinations were dispensed with until the 9th grade as they “do not always determine who is prepared to do successfully the work of the next grade. Frequently they do not test genuine work and power.” Promotions were based upon the yearly average of weekly grades, with students averaging Excellent, Good and Fair being promoted.
While the one-room schoolhouse was generally considered a less effective and more chaotic institution than the graded school, it did have the advantage of encouraging advanced students who unlike their counterparts in graded schools elsewhere were exposed to lessons presented to higher level students. As one local resident described it, “A child who was anxious to learn would ‘listen in’ and often have a wider knowledge than the city students.” Such gifted students were therefore able to acquire a deeper knowledge in their studies and sometimes advance at a more rapid pace. The Middleborough School Committee obliquely recognized this phenomenon when it emphasized that students of special ability could be promoted regardless of age or length of time in a specific level.
NEXT PAGE: Health
PREVIOUS PAGE: Grades & Report Cards
Health
.
Student health was an increasingly important facet of the educational experience in the twentieth century.
Previously, diseases and sickness could severely compromise the work of the school when large numbers of students became ill simultaneously. In December 1885, the Green School was closed for two weeks due to a case of scarlet fever, and in November, 1906, whooping cough at the school was prevalent, “causing a small attendance”. Diphtheria closed the school for a considerable length of time in the autumn of 1910, and in January, 1920, a number of cases of chicken pox were recorded. Eventually immunization clinics and improved health standards would help reduce these concerns and the threats to children’s health.
Preventative action was taken as well as in October, 1905, when the Green School was furnished with “test-type cards for testing the eyes of the pupils” in anticipation of a state law passed in 1906 requiring the appointment of school physicians and the annual testing of students’ sight and hearing. Each eye and both together were tested. 31 students at the Green School were tested and 3 were found “defective in eyesight” and 1 found “defective in hearing”, and their parents were notified. In some cases, poor academic performance was able to be attributed to poor vision, or, as put less sympathetically by the Superintendent’s report for 1905, “Many cases of apparent stupidity have been found due to poor vision.” The tests also had the benefit in aiding teachers in seating assignments and blackboard use.
Similar tests continued to be conducted throughout the remainder of the Green School’s operation. In 1929, an audiometer was first used in Middleborough schools to aid in the testing of hearing, the results previously having been “very unsatisfactory”.
In 1910, Dr. J. H. Burkhead was appointed largely to examine students between the ages of 14 and 16 who wished to work and who were required by law to have a physical examination by a school committee-appointed doctor. By 1912, however, Burkhead was officially serving as school physician and he had examined all children. At the Green, Burkhead examined 47 children and found 6 cases of hypertrophied tonsils, 7 cases of adenoids and 3 cases of defective teeth, findings which were consistent with those of the other schools. Besides working with parents to improve the health of the community’s children, under Burkhead’s direction the town began to pay closer attention to the sanitary conditions of each school.
Beginning in 1914, Burkhead began more detailed dental examinations of students “as Pathologists now believe that Defective teeth are incompatible with the proper moral and physical development of the child.” Through these examinations, Burkhead considered 11 of the Green’s 46 pupils to have defective teeth. In 1916, Burkhead was alarmed to find 25% of children in the public schools (including 13 of the 52 Green students) had defective teeth, and both he and Superintendent Bates recommended the establishment of a Dental Clinic to address the matter. While any defects found in students were initially communicated to parents by means of a letter advising them to further consult a dentist or the family physician, in 1920 the task of personally visiting parents devolved upon the school nurse due to the lack of response in a number of instances. In 1921, Burkhead described the tasks of the school nurse: “Aside from weighing school children and consulting with the parents of the ‘underweights,’ referring children to specialists for examination and treatment, procuring glasses for children who were in dire need of them, taking throat cultures of children who were exposed to diphtheria, giving health talks in the schools, she still has found time to make over three hundred home visits to consult with the parents and to urge them to have the defects found by [the] school physician corrected.”
The influenza pandemic in late 1918 forced the closure of the Green and all other public schools for a period of three weeks while a reoccurrence in November and December hampered a number of schools, though it is not known whether the Green was among them. In April, 1929, a smallpox outbreak similarly closed the school when the school vacation was advanced a week.
Students continued to be examined annually by the school department in order to ensure adequate health. In 1927 Green School students were weighed six times as part of School Nurse Helen Pasztor’s nutrition work, and in 1931, they were weighed twice. Any found to be underweight were weighed four times during the course of the year. Tonsils and adenoids continued to remain part of the routine examination and of 38 Green pupils examined in 1930, 4 were found to have “tonsil and adenoid defects.”
In 1929, a dental clinic was inaugurated with a $500 appropriation by the town. The clinic operated every Wednesday morning from October through June, and pupils who could not otherwise afford a dentist were treated for a fee of ten cents by Dr. R. W. Wood. At the time, the town also began the operation of a diphtheria clinic, providing immunizations for children between the ages of 6 months and ten years, as well as tuberculosis clinic.
NEXT PAGE: Discipline
PREVIOUS PAGE: Promotions
Student health was an increasingly important facet of the educational experience in the twentieth century.
Previously, diseases and sickness could severely compromise the work of the school when large numbers of students became ill simultaneously. In December 1885, the Green School was closed for two weeks due to a case of scarlet fever, and in November, 1906, whooping cough at the school was prevalent, “causing a small attendance”. Diphtheria closed the school for a considerable length of time in the autumn of 1910, and in January, 1920, a number of cases of chicken pox were recorded. Eventually immunization clinics and improved health standards would help reduce these concerns and the threats to children’s health.
Preventative action was taken as well as in October, 1905, when the Green School was furnished with “test-type cards for testing the eyes of the pupils” in anticipation of a state law passed in 1906 requiring the appointment of school physicians and the annual testing of students’ sight and hearing. Each eye and both together were tested. 31 students at the Green School were tested and 3 were found “defective in eyesight” and 1 found “defective in hearing”, and their parents were notified. In some cases, poor academic performance was able to be attributed to poor vision, or, as put less sympathetically by the Superintendent’s report for 1905, “Many cases of apparent stupidity have been found due to poor vision.” The tests also had the benefit in aiding teachers in seating assignments and blackboard use.
Similar tests continued to be conducted throughout the remainder of the Green School’s operation. In 1929, an audiometer was first used in Middleborough schools to aid in the testing of hearing, the results previously having been “very unsatisfactory”.
In 1910, Dr. J. H. Burkhead was appointed largely to examine students between the ages of 14 and 16 who wished to work and who were required by law to have a physical examination by a school committee-appointed doctor. By 1912, however, Burkhead was officially serving as school physician and he had examined all children. At the Green, Burkhead examined 47 children and found 6 cases of hypertrophied tonsils, 7 cases of adenoids and 3 cases of defective teeth, findings which were consistent with those of the other schools. Besides working with parents to improve the health of the community’s children, under Burkhead’s direction the town began to pay closer attention to the sanitary conditions of each school.
Beginning in 1914, Burkhead began more detailed dental examinations of students “as Pathologists now believe that Defective teeth are incompatible with the proper moral and physical development of the child.” Through these examinations, Burkhead considered 11 of the Green’s 46 pupils to have defective teeth. In 1916, Burkhead was alarmed to find 25% of children in the public schools (including 13 of the 52 Green students) had defective teeth, and both he and Superintendent Bates recommended the establishment of a Dental Clinic to address the matter. While any defects found in students were initially communicated to parents by means of a letter advising them to further consult a dentist or the family physician, in 1920 the task of personally visiting parents devolved upon the school nurse due to the lack of response in a number of instances. In 1921, Burkhead described the tasks of the school nurse: “Aside from weighing school children and consulting with the parents of the ‘underweights,’ referring children to specialists for examination and treatment, procuring glasses for children who were in dire need of them, taking throat cultures of children who were exposed to diphtheria, giving health talks in the schools, she still has found time to make over three hundred home visits to consult with the parents and to urge them to have the defects found by [the] school physician corrected.”
The influenza pandemic in late 1918 forced the closure of the Green and all other public schools for a period of three weeks while a reoccurrence in November and December hampered a number of schools, though it is not known whether the Green was among them. In April, 1929, a smallpox outbreak similarly closed the school when the school vacation was advanced a week.
Students continued to be examined annually by the school department in order to ensure adequate health. In 1927 Green School students were weighed six times as part of School Nurse Helen Pasztor’s nutrition work, and in 1931, they were weighed twice. Any found to be underweight were weighed four times during the course of the year. Tonsils and adenoids continued to remain part of the routine examination and of 38 Green pupils examined in 1930, 4 were found to have “tonsil and adenoid defects.”
In 1929, a dental clinic was inaugurated with a $500 appropriation by the town. The clinic operated every Wednesday morning from October through June, and pupils who could not otherwise afford a dentist were treated for a fee of ten cents by Dr. R. W. Wood. At the time, the town also began the operation of a diphtheria clinic, providing immunizations for children between the ages of 6 months and ten years, as well as tuberculosis clinic.
NEXT PAGE: Discipline
PREVIOUS PAGE: Promotions
Discipline
.
School Committees at the time that the Green School was built in 1871 anticipated that schools would be run in an orderly manner. “The manners of the school room should be those of the well regulated and cultivated home.” Teachers were expected to lead by example and set a high tone within the building. Everything from discourtesy to poor posture was to be corrected and pupils to be reprimanded for vulgarity, meanness, sloppiness and a host of other sins as seen in the eyes of the teacher. “Teachers shall rebuke every known instance of profanity, and suppress, so far as possible, all coarseness, and rudeness, and unkindness in their pupils’ treatment of one another, whether in school-hours, or by the way; and the use of tobacco by any pupil shall be especially discountenanced.”
Teachers were charged with acting in the manner “of a kind, judicious parent” towards students, and were urged to avoid corporal punishment. In the event the teacher deemed that such harsh punishment was warranted, they were required to record it in a register along with the reason for inflicting it. While the method of administering such treatment was not prescribed, the school committee’s regulations did set boundaries: “No teacher will be justified in inflicting any punishment upon the head of any pupil, either with the rod, rule, or hand.”
In 1881, the School Committee reported what it viewed as an alarming decline in respectfulness among children of the era.
Fifty years ago, children were not only instructed, but were made to treat their superiors with great respect, and all with courtesy. When they met the clergyman or the Squire, they would take off their caps and stand with uncovered heads while he passed. Now, many times when one passes a wayside schoolhouse, he is glad to make extra speed to get out of the way of flying missiles, hurled about his head, and beyond the sound of the yells and whoops of the froward striplings. While we do not care to have the children of the present day under such rigid surveillance, yet we do ask, that they may be so instructed, as not to throw stones at the school house after dismissal, in our presence, or cast a stone after us as we drive away.
The committee, however, may have been regarding the past with a somewhat rose-colored perspective as not all scholars of an earlier generation had been as deferential as the 1881 group believed. In 1851, the School Committee had been critical of Deborah Gisby, the teacher of the Green for what was an apparent inability to always retain order. “Miss G. succeeds in teaching better than governing where there are scholars that need more than common restraint.”
PREVIOUS PAGE: Health
School Committees at the time that the Green School was built in 1871 anticipated that schools would be run in an orderly manner. “The manners of the school room should be those of the well regulated and cultivated home.” Teachers were expected to lead by example and set a high tone within the building. Everything from discourtesy to poor posture was to be corrected and pupils to be reprimanded for vulgarity, meanness, sloppiness and a host of other sins as seen in the eyes of the teacher. “Teachers shall rebuke every known instance of profanity, and suppress, so far as possible, all coarseness, and rudeness, and unkindness in their pupils’ treatment of one another, whether in school-hours, or by the way; and the use of tobacco by any pupil shall be especially discountenanced.”
Teachers were charged with acting in the manner “of a kind, judicious parent” towards students, and were urged to avoid corporal punishment. In the event the teacher deemed that such harsh punishment was warranted, they were required to record it in a register along with the reason for inflicting it. While the method of administering such treatment was not prescribed, the school committee’s regulations did set boundaries: “No teacher will be justified in inflicting any punishment upon the head of any pupil, either with the rod, rule, or hand.”
In 1881, the School Committee reported what it viewed as an alarming decline in respectfulness among children of the era.
Fifty years ago, children were not only instructed, but were made to treat their superiors with great respect, and all with courtesy. When they met the clergyman or the Squire, they would take off their caps and stand with uncovered heads while he passed. Now, many times when one passes a wayside schoolhouse, he is glad to make extra speed to get out of the way of flying missiles, hurled about his head, and beyond the sound of the yells and whoops of the froward striplings. While we do not care to have the children of the present day under such rigid surveillance, yet we do ask, that they may be so instructed, as not to throw stones at the school house after dismissal, in our presence, or cast a stone after us as we drive away.
The committee, however, may have been regarding the past with a somewhat rose-colored perspective as not all scholars of an earlier generation had been as deferential as the 1881 group believed. In 1851, the School Committee had been critical of Deborah Gisby, the teacher of the Green for what was an apparent inability to always retain order. “Miss G. succeeds in teaching better than governing where there are scholars that need more than common restraint.”
PREVIOUS PAGE: Health
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